At the city airport, by 6 AM, an aircraft landed from abroad. The departure hall of the international wing immediately became restless when they announced this flight. Apparently, more than half of the people at the departure wing were waiting for commuters of this particular air taxi. Charles Ban, wearing an oversized black hoodie, stepped out of the plane, looked around, and put on dark glasses, even though the sun was not out at that time. As expected, it took a while before he located his luggage among the thousands that were displayed on the carrier. ''Harpers Inn!'' Charles said to the taxi driver as he hopped into the back seat of the car after putting his luggage behind. The driver twitched his eyes. The location Charles asked him to drive to was a high-brew area.He tried to peer at Charles through the rearview mirror, to see the person that was going to that sort of place at that time of the day. Charles looked obviously young, he was in his early twenties, so he didn'

Barter heard Laura screaming, and wondered if something heavier than what he was used to was happening.He was used to Mr. Ban beating Laura up every now and then, but the only reply he ever heard from Laura was her wailings and crying, but, this time, he could hear her screaming at Mr. Ban.Also, did he hear her mention a divorce? He hoped he heard correctly.Barter peeped into the room and saw how Mr. Ban held Laura like a rag doll, barking angry words at her, and he raised an eyebrow.At this point, he hoped he truly heard Laura asking Mr. Ban for a divorce.Maybe she had accepted to run away with him."What has come over you? Your ex-fiance's magic has started to work on you, right? Since when did you become so aggressive and ratchet?" Mr. Ban asked with surprise evident in his voice.Laura squirmed under his grip and looked at him. Her eyes had never shed such tears before. This episode was different, her heart was heavier than ever, and she just wanted to leave Damien Ban's hous

For now, Laura's mind was clouded. She had already accepted Barter's offer before she realized that she shouldn't have. But she wanted to escape from Mr. Ban's house, desperately. What else would she have done to escape? She didn't have the key to the secret door and would have tried to walk out through the front door, and of course, she would have been stopped. So, technically, Barter helped her. But she wished he didn't have to.''My name is Alina. I'm Barter's sister,'' the lady that showed Laura to her room at Bueno's hotel said. Laura raised her eyebrows in realization, no wonder the girl had a striking resemblance with the gangsta bodyguard. They were siblings.Looking at Barter's sister, Laura wondered if she was comfortable with her brother's lifestyle. Barter was a dangerous man, he was so dangerous, to the extent that, even his comrades who guarded Mr. Ban as well, gave him the utmost respect. It was safe to say that he was the leader of Mr. Ban's gangstas.''How do you k

Barter was back and Laura was surprised. Where was Mr. Ban, and why had he not started looking for her? When Laura opened the door to let Barter in, her surprise was evident. "You are in luck, woman. Mr. Ban has quickly skipped town. It's an emergency and he will be back in no time, however it gives you enough time for a head start. Before he starts looking for you, you would have been long gone," Barter told Laura. Long gone to where? She wondered. Alina woke up from her nap and saw her brother with Laura. She frowned. Her filthy brother did not have anything in common with Laura. Even though Laura was currently being tossed around for whatever reason, Barter was still Barter, an uneducated, violent criminal, while Laura had a little bit of polish going on for her. Alina eyed him. "You are back, so I can take my leave now," she said to Barter with disdain. Barter grunted. He knew Alina's position concerning him taking Laura, so he made sure not to say or do anything that w

Barter quickly went back to Mr. Ban's house.He was afraid. Already, he had declined to join Mr. Ban on his short and impromptu trip. He gave a flimsy excuse about his daughter being sick and needing his attention. This was something that Barter had never done before. Mr. Ban was taken aback greatly by this. He struggled for a bit, trying to make Barter join him, but Barter remained firm about his decision to stay back to look after his sick daughter. Seeing Barter's obstinance and the fact that he was a family man himself, Mr. Ban had to allow him to stay and appointed the next leader in command among his bodyguards to join him on the trip. ''I don't want Barter to say that I killed his daughter. In case something bad happens,'' Mr. Ban said as he appointed someone else in Barter's place. Now, Barter was regretting his actions. He should have left Laura in the house, now she had run away. He couldn't afford to think of the horrible things that Mr. Ban would do to him if he foun